The last we heard about a film adaptation of Tron: Legacydirector Joseph Kosinski's "illustrated novel," Oblivion, it was being pitched around Hollywood. Disney had an exclusive negotiating window with Koskinski that ended last night without definitive word one way or another. Koskinski also pitched Oblivion to other Hollywood studios. Paramount, Fox, and 20th-Century Fox all made bids, but Disney seemed like the likeliest buyer as of late last week based on Kosinski's directorial debut, Tron: Legacy.

In a post-apocalyptic Earth, civilization lives above the clouds and scavengers illegally collect ancient artifacts from the polluted and destroyed surface below. But when one young scavenger discovers a crashed spacecraft planetside- and a beautiful woman within- he rejoices at the find. Little does he realize that his discovery will lead him to a journey filled with romance, adventure and unimaginable danger.

Kosinski came up with the basic premise for Oblivionfive years ago and hoped to expand it into his debut film before Disney gave offered him the Tron Legacy directing gig. For the 128-page illustrated novel, Kosinski collaborated with Arvid Nelson, a comic-book writer best known for the recently concluded Rex Mundi series (which is also in feature-film development), and artist Andree Wallin under Radical Publishing's imprint.

You can read the first chapter over at Ain't It Cool News. You can also check out selected images collected into a PDF at Amazon.com here. I found Wallin's detailed, painted art consistently impressive. Whether Kosinski's story idea, expanded by Nelson to illustrated novel length, matches the quality of Wallin's art, however, remains to be seen.

In addition to Oblivion, Kosinski is attached to direct a second Tron sequel (assuming Tron: Legacy succeeds commercially, of course), the remake of Disney's 1979 science-fiction film, The Black Hole, and Archangels, a Bourne-style science-fiction actioner for Ridley and Tony Scott's production company, Scott Free.

Were the first chapter and sample images enough to convince you to purchase Oblivion when it hits real and virtual bookshelves on November 16th or would you rather wait until you know more or can check out the book in published form? Or does the premise sound too familiar for you to give Oblivion a closer look when it gets published?

Update: Deadline confirmed earlier this morning that Disney acquired the rights to produce a live-action adaption of Oblivion, with Kosinksi attached to direct. That brings the count of Kosinski-attached projects up to four. Hopefully we'll see one (or more) of these projects on the big screen in the next 3-4 years.